Samsung Odyssey Ark Hands-On: So Absurd, It's Awesome

Samsung brought its recently unveiled Odyssey Ark PC monitor to IFA 2022 and shocked onlookers aplenty. It's one thing to read about this giant display — experiencing it firsthand is something entirely different. This is a display that is so gigantic, it has its own solar-powered remote control pad. It's like a standard remote control for a television, but it also allows the viewer to physically adjust the angle of the display — a move that can also be automated.

Chris Burns/SlashGear

While you'll most likely be using this monitor in standard landscape mode as a single massive screen, you can also initiate "cockpit mode." This is Samsung's term for portrait mode, but it's different enough from a standard portrait mode that it might need its own term, as Samsung suggests. The real challenges that'll come with this device have little to do with functionality. Instead we'll likely be challenged in finding reasons to have such a massive screen and in figuring out where we're going to find the cash to purchase this notably priced piece of hardware.

When the Samsung Odyssey Ark is in cockpit mode, it looks daunting. It has the ability to work with three different display inputs, split into three different screens, one on top of the other. Seeing this monitor sitting upright looked bonkers from afar. It was only once I got in the driver's seat that I had my "aha" moment. I imagine that the next time I sit down in front of my own desktop PC with its comparably pathetic 27-inch monitor, I'll miss the hulking scale of the Samsung Odyssey Ark.

While I expected to have to crane my neck to view anything at the top of the screen, it seems that Samsung's setup here hits just the right curve and size. At this scale and shape, I could use the whole space without neck strain. Moving between screens and figuring out settings in cockpit mode aside, it was easy to see the benefits of having a monitor capable of this tall tech.

Samsung suggests that this is the first 55-inch 4K display panel with the ability to support a 165Hz refresh rate. This device works with QLED display technology, meaning it's bright and sharp in the best way possible. While the display is curved, Samsung seems to have figured out how to make it work without significant image warping while computing or gaming.

Chris Burns/SlashGear

This is the sort of display you buy if you already own a massively powerful desktop PC. This is not the sort of monitor one acquires to connect with a laptop or a smartphone, though technically you could try to do either or both.

The only downside to this whole situation is the fact that it'll cost approximately $3,500 in stores. This is a monitor that likely costs more than all the monitors in your house combined. But it's big, it's beautiful, and we've not even gotten the chance to go in-depth with the smart features yet. Once we get one in for review, we'll explore this monitor's features more extensively.